Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a “likability” problem–we do

Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a “likability” problem–we do

Hillary Clinton would like Americans to know she’s very likable. No, really.

Over the weekend, the two-time Democratic presidential candidate appeared in a Saturday Night Live skit as an average Joe bartender, serving drinks and shooting the breeze with fake Hillary (played by SNL cast member Kate McKinnon). The skit was the latest attempt by Clinton to show her “humor and heart” to voters. In the bit, she impersonated Donald Trump, poked fun at herself, and even joined McKinnon in a rousing rendition of “Lean On Me.” But did it work?

The likability complaint has dogged Hillary for the better part of her public life. During husband Bill Clinton’s first run for governor in 1980, Arkansas voters disparaged her for being the independent, career-oriented Ms. Rodham instead of wifely, deferential Mrs. Clinton. (She subsequently took her husband’s name.) Recently released White House documents reveal that a decade later, her staff strategized to make her more “likable” mostly by making her appear softer and more feminine. During the 2008 campaign, the word surfaced again: Obama quipped that Hillary was “likable enough.”